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Julio Scoundrél
Julio Scoundrél is the dashing sky pirate and captain of the airship Mechane that aided Thog and Elan in reaching Azure City. Biography Background A famous action star and listed as the thirty-second out of the one hundred greatest swordsmen of the century, Julio was chosen the "Sexiest Man Alive" by the Townspeople magazine in his younger days. His proficiency in swordplay was due to taking ten levels in the obscure prestige class Dashing Swordsman, allowing him to apply his incredibly high Charisma bonus to attacks with a rapier so long as the attack is accompanied by a witty remark or catch-phrase. He described himself as a "world-famous sky pirate, renown ladies' man and all-around action hero" and had lovers, children and law-problems in almost every town, all reasons he avoided big cities like Azure City where he was a wanted criminal. At some point in his career, when he was around 13th level, he fenced the Devil-King of Dinosaur Island using his +3 keen rapier. Later he fought the Ogre-Witch of Rupture Ravine. He also had several run-ins with Tarquin, having crashed more than one of his weddings to rescue the bride from Tarquin's machinations. ''Snips Snails and Dragon Tails'' Julio stars in the opening feature of this book, named Julio Scoundrél and the Curse of the Mummy Queen, where he interacts with Virginia and the Mummy Queen Amontop. ''War and XPs'' Elan encountered Julio while attempting to get transport from Cliffport to Azure City; the air pirate agreed to help Elan because the bard reminded him of himself. When dropping Elan off in Azure City he damaged a section of the city walls through a combination of ballistae and alchemists fire. This led Hinjo to refer to him as "some jackass pirate" later on. Captain Scoundrél trained Elan in the arts of the Dashing Swordsman Prestige Class during their journey from Cliffport to Azure City so he could defeat Nale once he arrived. Much like Elan, Julio was extremely well-versed in the ways of Genre Conventions and follows such rules. Before parting ways, he gave Elan the +3 Keen Rapier that he used when he was Elan's level, claiming that since he has managed to father children in every port on the continent he doesn't know whom to give it to. He also told him that he didn't want to ever cross paths with Elan again because he would most likely be killed by a random enemy of Elan's the next time they meet so that Elan could swear vengeance on his killer. ''Blood Runs in the Family'' Julio and the Mechane were not seen again for some time, until Elan secretly, so as not to ruin the dramatic reveal, contacted Julio through a Sending from Durkon and asked him to help the Order defeat Tarquin at the Windy Canyon. As usual, Scoundrél arrived in the nick of time. Just when Tarquin had vanquished The Order and was trying to force Elan to do things his way, Julio arrived riding a flying carpet, revealing their old acquaintance. He fought Tarquin even after he pointed out that the mentor always gets killed by the hero's enemy. Julio replied that a second Sending from Elan convinced him that he can change stories themselves. He kept on fighting Tarquin using carpet puns to take advantage of his Dashing Swordsman bonus. Meanwhile, The Order escaped to Julio's ship. Tarquin shredded Julio's carpet and called for Laurin. Shattersmith revealed that she was a member of Julio's fan club in her youth, but she confesses that she had bad taste when she was younger. The psion then proceeded to blast Julio with a Psi attack. Together, they tried to flank Julio, just when Elan shot a harpoon from the Mechane that almost hit Tarquin. While Tarquin complained that Elan missed, Julio cut the rope attached to the harpoon and used it to escape. While this helped him to escape from Tarquin, Bandana Secundus, in charge up on the Mechane, noted that he was not strong enough to climb up the rope, as he was when he was younger. While in this position, he was unaware of what was happening on deck, but this gives him a perfect view when Tarquin plummeted to the ground. After the Vector Legion was defeated, Captain Scoundrél left his Chaos Saber to Elan, and the Mechane to Bandana, before departing for a "long overdue vacation to the Outer Planes." Powers and Abilities * Dashing Swordsman Training: ** Master Swordsman: Julio acquired the "Dashing Swordsman" level after discovering it in an old third-party sourcebook he found gathering dust in the discount bin. He can use Charisma in place of Strength for damage when wielding a rapier, as long as the character can make a witty pun or spout a catchphrase when they attack. This increase in power makes up for his average Strength and Dexterity scores, allowing him to fight on par with veteran combatants such as Tarquin and is the reason he is listed as the thirty-second out of the one hundred greatest swordsmen of the century. However, the pun will have no effect if the enemy is too stupid to understand the pun or if they cannot hear it, and he can only use any given pun once in a single battle. ** Glass Damage Immunity: As a Dashing Swordsman, Julio is immune to damage from shattered glass, which helps them make dramatic window entrances. * Dramatic Knowledge: Much like his protege Elan, Julio has a fondness for the dramatic and is aware of certain fiction elements encountered in stories, which is part of the reason he hoped to never see Elan again, due to the tendency of old mentors to die in their protege's arms. However, unlike Tarquin he does not abide strictly to story tradition, and his knowledge of the dramatic was used to convince him to go against tradition by showing up to help the Order of the Stick at Girard's Gate solely for the privilege of defying the "dying mentor" trope. While Julio is famous as a Dashing Swordsman, he never explicitly stated what class he was before taking that prestige class. Based on his extensive knowledge of narrative form, and the fact that Elan the Bard reminds him of himself when he was younger, it would seem reasonable that he has at least some levels as a Bard. However, he has never demonstrated any performance ability or spellcasting. The Swashbuckler base class from the 2003 D&D 3.5 supplement Complete Warrior would be another reasonable class for him, as charisma is also important to that class. Obviously, since the Dashing Swordsman is a fictional prestige class, the entrance requirements are not known. Gallery Julio.png Julio 2.PNG Julio 3.PNG Julio 4.PNG Julio 5.PNG Trivia * There are at least three possible sources of inspiration for the character of Julio Scoundrél taken from other pop culture sources. ** In appearance, he bears remarkable resemblance to Setzer Gabbiani (whose airship Blackjack also resembles Julio's Mechane), as was quite possibly lampshaded by the Final Fantasy 6 parody comic shortly before he was introduced.Comic #388, "The Final Frontier" ** Julio Scoundrél bears a resemblance to Jack Sparrow, and the first letter of his name and surname coincide with Sparrow's. He also looks and acts like a Pirate and is the captain of the airship Mechane, similar to the Black Pearl, having a black flotation balloon instead of the black Sails. Scoundrél was also chosen the "Sexiest Man Alive" by the Townspeople magazine, like Johnny Depp was by Empire magazine as one of the "100 Sexiest Stars" being the first in the list. ** Scoundrél also bears similarities to Captain Shakespeare from Stardust. Both are airship captains, and both mentor the young protagonist (in this case, Elan) in the ways of both swordplay and romance. References Category:Characters Category:Humans Category:Living Characters Category:Dashing Swordsmen Category:Chaotic Neutral Characters Category:Chaotic Characters Category:Neutral Characters Category:Males